Improving Your Literary Responses

Mr. SchellenbergEnglish 12

Begin your response by mentioning both the author’s name and the title of the work. This can be done in one of 3 ways:

1.Standard 2.Thematic3.Quotation

Introductory Sentence

Throughout the poem “Death Over Water,” Elizabeth Rhett Woods effectively employs the metaphor of ice dancing to help the reader better understand the relationship between the eagle and the gull.

Standard Introduction

Only by challenging oneself does one leave the door open to wonderful possibilities and life-enhancing experience. This idea is explored in Margaret Avison’s poem, “The Swimmer’s Moment.”

Thematic Introduction

“Spreading his dark arms above his partner’s every move… the eagle shadows the gull.” This quote from Elizabeth Rhett Woods’ poem, “Death Over Water,” illustrates the poet’s effective use of metaphor.

Quotation Introduction

Integrate Quotations

The best proof that a work of literature does what you say it does, is textual evidence (words and sentences that you cite from a poem/story/play you are writing about).

Example

WEAK:Throughout the poem, the poet compares the relationship between the gull and the eagle to a “pair of ice dancers” because every move that the gull makes, the eagle is sure to follow it like a shadow would. In line 6, it says, “but the eagle is always above and behind it, parallel, like the male of a pair of ice dancers spreading his dark arms above his partner’s every move, like that the eagle shadows the gull.”

Example

BETTER:The last example in this poem is lines 11 and 12; “spreading his dark arms above his partners every move.” This can be associated with a male ice dancer being ready to catch the female and following her every move.

Example

GOOD:Finally, the eagle tackles the gull “in that arena where the enemy has / every advantage of size and speed.” Here, just as the skaters glide comfortably across the ice, the eagle is at home soaring in its own arena, the sky, where it may dominate with the speed, grace, and style of the professional ice dancer who wins first prize.

The Quotation “Hamburger”

1. A sentence that is your own thought. This provides the context for the quote that you plan to use to illustrate your point.

2. Integrate quotation.3. Reflect back on the quote in

your own words.

Example

GOOD:While the gull swerves desperately across the sky, gliding quickly like an accomplished skater, the eagle pursues “parallel, like / the male of a pair of ice dancers / spreading his dark arms above / his partners every move.” The author compares the eagle’s ominous hovering with the practiced moves of a male skater, well-muscled and masculine in comparison with his partner’s tiny frame.

Language

Quoting Poetry

1. When quoting more than a single line of poetry, indicate where a line break occurs with a slash ( / ) “A clamour of crows /

mobbing an eagle, it seems”2. Only use an ellipsis (…) to

denote an omission from a quotation “until I see the gull… flying for

its life”